What is the size of our universe?

Answer 1

Unmeasurable, Nasa may answer this question.

Answer 2

Well, we DO know something...
The size of *observable* universe is simply the age of the universe times the speed of light - you can't "observe" anything beoynd that sphere simply because the light from there hasn't reached us yet. That would be around 16 billion light years.

This is not only all the universe we can see, but also all the universe, that can possibly matter to us - since nothing can move quicker than light, we can in no way be affected by anything whatsoever beyond that 16 billion light year radius.
So, for all intents and purposes you can use this number as the size of our universe.
Another argument is that nothing could have flown away from the point where Big Bang occured any father than 16 billion light years by now - so, once again, that must be the (current) radius of the universe. Don't forget that it keeps growing though

Answer 3

The correct answer is that we really have no idea and really can never know for sure. Also, there is a limit to how far we can see into the universe. We can only see how far light has been able to travel since the time that gravity and EM forces decoupled (maybe about 12 to 15 billion years ago). There may possibly be more universe beyond what we can see.

Answer 4

i think our universe is only as large as the programmers wish it to be. For instance as the speed and capacity of computers is increased it will be possible to make virtual characters move and exist as if they were censured beings. To those "holographic characters" they exist in their enviroments and interact independently even they are are actually existing within guidelines or parameters that we would have set. This being the case why then would it be inconceivable that WE may just be characters in some virtual enviroment that think we act independently but actually act under parameters set for us. We may think we see a whole universe out there but all we are seeing is some stray light that may have been programmed to fall within our perception , Thus the universe can be as big or little as someone wants it to be

Answer 5

We can see back to the Big Bang. That's 13.7 billion lightyears away.

What we see of the Big Bang suggests that material out there is just like we used to be, 13.7 billion years ago. So if you were able to go there now, by travelling much faster than the speed of light (through a wormhole, maybe), it would look a lot like our nearby stars and galaxies. And that stuff would be about 25 billion lightyears away, because it has been moving away from us ever since the Big Bang.

Furthermore, every day we see one light-day further away, and that stuff still looks the same. So presumably the Universe is actually much bigger than that.

The current best cosmological theory, Big Bang with inflation, says that the Universe is actually *much much* bigger than that---at least a trillion trillion lightyears. Beyond that, the Universe wouldn't stop, it would just have somewhat different physics.

It could be infinite.

By the way, it is perfectly OK for distant parts of the Universe to be flying apart faster than the speed of light, and in fact the stuff beyond 13.7 billion lightyears is flying away from us faster than light. Einstein's prohibition against faster-than-light motion applies only to objects that are near enough to interact. Just because those things are flying away faster than light now does not necessarily mean we will forever be out of contact, or that they can't possibly affect us in the future.

Answer 6

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy offers this definition of the word "Infinite" (when describing the area of the Universe).
Infinite: Bigger than the biggest thing ever and then some. Much bigger than that in fact, really amazingly immense, a totally stunning size, real "wow, that's big," time. infinity is just so big that, by comparison, bigness itself looks really titchy. Gigantic multiplied by colossal multiplied by staggeringly huge is the sort of concept we're trying to get across here.

(It's big, too)

Answer 7

Our universe? I'm not really sure what you mean. I will answer that with this.

Go out to New Mexico or Arizona away from all the city lights and look up. Imagine how far you're seeing and that's how big it is. The universe is way to vast and everchanging to determine a measurement.

Answer 8

the universe is something we call infinite. it contains everything that exists and everything that does not exist. if you do find the end of the universe, and it has an indication, say a sign that says "end of universe", there has to be something on the other side. (IT HAS NO END) it just goes on and on and on and on and for all we know, we could be going in circles. even if you cant picture something going on and on, in the end, its just a term.

Answer 9

We can currently see galaxies that are some 12 to 15 billion light years away. In any direction we point out telescopes we see the same thing (many many galaxies) That would indicate that the universe is at least 30 billion light years in diameter. However, we could build more powerful telescopes that could see further. So far, we haven't reached any limit.

Answer 10

Currently a size 12, but unless it stops expanding it will need to start wearing a size 14.

Answer 11

ashwin_hariharan, do you have any evidence that the universe curves around it self (mobian strip)?

analyzing the light from distance stars are shifted to the right (redshift) proving that the universe is expanding

if the universe is expanding, how can it wrap around it self?